‘We had issued a strict warning, he promised he won’t do it again’

In the past week, as Homebound cinematographer Pratik Shah was called out for his alleged inappropriate behaviour and sexual misconduct with women, and dropped from certain projects (After the allegations, time for action, June 2), news emerged that a complaint was previously made against him with the Indian Women Cinematographer Collective (IWCC) in 2020. When mid-day reached out to cinematographer and filmmaker Juhi Sharma, who had alerted the collective in 2020 about the alleged incident, she revealed that the episode involved a young cinematographer who admired Shah’s work and started following him on Instagram.  

Sharma was first made aware of the episode by another cinematographer, who told her that her cinematographer-friend had an unsavoury experience with Shah. Sharma recalled, “The cinematographer told me that the woman had started following Pratik [online], and in conversation, he suddenly asked for nude pictures. She felt very scared. She just wanted to work with him, and he was saying all kinds of [uncomfortable] things to her.” Learning about the alleged incident left Sharma shocked, as Shah and her were friends.

 Juhi Sharma

Her next step was to reach out to the IWCC. Soon, Sharma informed the collective of the alleged inappropriate behaviour. “I took it to the collective. I asked them if he had made advances towards anyone else. Nobody else had such an experience.” 

Sharma believed that shaming him publicly was not the solution; holding him accountable was important. Concurring with her, the IWCC decided to issue a stern warning to the accused. “I`m the kind of person, who doesn`t believe that shaming someone to the extent of saying `get out` is going to do anything. I`m of the opinion that yes, people have wronged, but they have to be given one chance to be told you have wronged. Now go back, take note of your actions, don`t do it again and come back and tell us how you`re going to change. As Indian women in the film industry, it`s not like this is the first time it`s happening. I`ve had this uncomfortable conversation with so many men that now I`m just exhausted. I have spoken to men and told them what did was horrible, and that I could go out in public and say this, but I would not. This is what we told Pratik as well, that we could but we would`nt go public with the complaint. We issued a strict warning to him about his unacceptable behaviour.” 

Pratik Shah was the Director of Photography on Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound

Sharma said, “He apologised and said that he couldn’t believe that he was being construed like this. Over a voice note, he promised that he wouldn’t do this ever again; he even said that he was a champion of women. I shared that voice note with the rest of the collective. After that, for years, I didn’t hear any complaints, and it seemed like he had changed. He even hired an all-women crew.” 

The recent accusations, however, suggest otherwise. On May 29, filmmaker Abhinav Singh called out Shah, citing the testimonies of multiple women who accused him of being “emotionally abusive” and soliciting nude pictures after conversing with them online. “We gave Pratik a chance to change, but he didn`t. That time has passed.”

How is the IWCC taking the matter forward? Sharma said, “We have a no-tolerance policy for such cases. On May 30, the senior members asked people, who have had such unfortunate experiences with him or anyone else, to come forward and speak up. The IWCC is taking cognizance of the matter.” 

mid-day reached out to Shah, who did not respond till press time.

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